‘Birther’ Bill Supporters Among GOP Platform Committee Members

At an event in Michigan on Friday, Mitt Romney joked about the veracity of President Obama’s birth certificate and once again called attention to the GOP’s awkward dance with a grassroots movement that has long questioned the president’s citizenship and eligibility to hold office.

While the “birther” cause seems confined to the harebrained fringes of American politics, it’s actually somewhat closer to the official domain of Republican politics than party leaders would like to admit.

As CNN wrote in May, Republican members of Congress and state-level GOP officials continue to publicly raise questions about Obama’s citizenship.

Some elected officials have even pushed legislation requiring candidates for office to submit a certified birth certificate before securing ballot access.